# Mold in 4 year old tubos



## talisker10 (Nov 6, 2015)

I recently received this box of punch petit coronation tubos dated eml nov 13. Today I got a chance and some time to check all 25 cigars. All of them had a yellowish mold growing on them. I wiped down each one, discarded the tubes, and threw away 6 that had mold on or in the foot. Not worth smoking moldy cigars imo.

This box was acquired at the London duty free and had the Hunters & Frankau sticker on the box. These are high quality cigars. So the question is, how did mold grow on these?

My guess is, sometime during their storage, they were exposed to high temps. High temps released moisture from the cigars, and the moisture having nowhere to escape, being in the tube, caused mold growth.

What do you think?

Moral of the story is don't store cigars in tubes for long periods unless you have perfect storage conditions.

Dissected one just for fun, it had mold on the foot.


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## JtAv8tor (Apr 12, 2017)

RIP...yep temps/moisture at some point got just right for them to mold..


My experience over the years with Tubos is I pull the cap off for long term resting and storage and haven't seen any issues and I have a few stored this way going on 8 years now.


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## pwaggs (Jan 10, 2017)

Wow. Thank you for biting the bullet and dissecting one. Looks like the rest will be ok with a good wipedown. As for storage, how hot did they get? Living in SoCal I have pretty much decided that the occasional jump to 74 degrees is not hurting anything, though I really like it lower. Sometimes I just can't with no AC.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

Sad that the one cigar had to give up it's life to science to check for mold and to see how far it will go. Tubos have that Pro/Con thing going on and I tend to take em out because of what you found. That's why we have humidors so that cigars are in an environment where they thrive and aren't inside a tube where we aren't privy to what is taking place....kinda like buying a condom and putting them in your wallet for a decade and thinking they are still viable when you meet some Playboy Centerfold at Ruby Tuesdays and think...what a nite this is going to be!


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## Joe Sticks (May 31, 2016)

Hmmm . . . I see some extremely tiny white specks in your last photo of the cut cigar. Do you think that's mold ? Looks like it's well within the body of the cigar.

I've really blown up the photo on my iPad. Don't know if you guys are seeing the same thing.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

Joe Sticks said:


> Hmmm . . . I see some extremely tiny white specks in your last photo of the cut cigar. Do you think that's mold ? Looks like it's well within the body of the cigar.
> 
> I've really blown up the photo on my iPad. Don't know if you guys are seeing the same thing.


You see white specks....I can barely see the cigar tobacco.


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## TankSD13 (Jun 13, 2017)

Cigary said:


> Sad that the one cigar had to give up it's life to science to check for mold and to see how far it will go. Tubos have that Pro/Con thing going on and I tend to take em out because of what you found. That's why we have humidors so that cigars are in an environment where they thrive and aren't inside a tube where we aren't privy to what is taking place....kinda like buying a condom and putting them in your wallet for a decade and thinking they are still viable when you meet some Playboy Centerfold at Ruby Tuesdays and think...what a nite this is going to be!


Wait.......so you're saying I shouldn't have used that condom? Damn:frown2:


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## Semper Noctem (Feb 10, 2017)

Cigary said:


> Sad that the one cigar had to give up it's life to science to check for mold and to see how far it will go. Tubos have that Pro/Con thing going on and I tend to take em out because of what you found. That's why we have humidors so that cigars are in an environment where they thrive and aren't inside a tube where we aren't privy to what is taking place....kinda like buying a condom and putting them in your wallet for a decade and thinking they are still viable when you meet some Playboy Centerfold at Ruby Tuesdays and think...what a nite this is going to be!


Hahaha, you certainly have a way with words, sir. love it!


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

TankSD13 said:


> Wait.......so you're saying I shouldn't have used that condom? Damn:frown2:


No you shouldn't future Dad! :smile2:


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## msmith1986 (Apr 24, 2017)

I don't have many tubos, but when I put some in my humi I always take the cap off. If you ever buy tubos at a B&M, a lot of times they are too warm and have white mold spots on them already. Buyer beware.

Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

At least you've been doing this long enough to know to check all tubos closely..

It's the new guys that get screwed up thinkin they'd be safe from everything because they're in a tube.. they put em down for a couple years then take one out to show off, crack the cap and pull out a block of bleu cheese.

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## scott1256ca (Jan 4, 2017)

ok, so I have some tubos that now need to be checked. I guess I'll remove them from the tube altogether and discard the tube. Or is that unnecessary now, provided they look ok? They are CC from another BOTL. They are dated 2015. I only checked a few when I got them and they seemed fine.


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## talisker10 (Nov 6, 2015)

scott1256ca said:


> ok, so I have some tubos that now need to be checked. I guess I'll remove them from the tube altogether and discard the tube. Or is that unnecessary now, provided they look ok? They are CC from another BOTL. They are dated 2015. I only checked a few when I got them and they seemed fine.


Check each one, and if they're ok, at least unscrew the cap. Unnecessary to discard the tubes if there's no mold.


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## JtAv8tor (Apr 12, 2017)

scott1256ca said:


> ok, so I have some tubos that now need to be checked. I guess I'll remove them from the tube altogether and discard the tube. Or is that unnecessary now, provided they look ok? They are CC from another BOTL. They are dated 2015. I only checked a few when I got them and they seemed fine.


Sometimes I will remove them all from tubes and keep the tubes in an old cigar box, then if I bomb or gift one away I put it back in the tube, for the most part I just pop the cap off of each tube when storing long term.


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## scott1256ca (Jan 4, 2017)

ok, thx guys. They all looked ok. I didn't see any point in putting them back in the tubes. So I put them back in the box, surrounded by the little cedar strip. I'll keep the tubes in case they (or something similar size) needs to travel.


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

talisker10 said:


> I recently received this box of punch petit coronation tubos dated eml nov 13. Today I got a chance and some time to check all 25 cigars. All of them had a yellowish mold growing on them. I wiped down each one, discarded the tubes, and threw away 6 that had mold on or in the foot. Not worth smoking moldy cigars imo.
> 
> This box was acquired at the London duty free and had the Hunters & Frankau sticker on the box. These are high quality cigars. So the question is, how did mold grow on these?
> 
> ...


Sorry for your troubles thanks for taking the time to do all of this. You have taught many beginners much. To honestly answer your question besides over humidification which is common in Tubos, I always attributed the mold to lack of circulation there is no air flow . The ceder sleeve further compounds this problem as well if so equipped . :vs_cool:


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